A conventionally-known thermoelectric conversion device has a thin plate-like shape, and outputs a signal in accordance with the heat flux that flows between one surface and the other surface in the thickness direction. A method of manufacturing such a thermoelectric conversion device is described in PTL 1.
The method of manufacturing a thermoelectric conversion device described in PTL 1 is as follows. With this manufacturing method, first, a plurality of via holes and a plurality of voids are provided in an insulating base material including a thermoplastic resin. Then, the plurality of via holes are filled with conductive pastes containing alloy powder and an organic solvent. Next, a front surface protection member having front surface wiring patterns in contact with ends of the plurality of conductive pastes is arranged on one surface of the insulating base material. Then, a rear surface protection member having rear surface wiring patterns in contact with the other ends of the plurality of conductive pastes is arranged on the other surface of the insulating base material so that a stacked body is formed. Next, an integrating step of heating the stacked body while pressing it in the stacking direction is performed using a vacuum pressing machine. In this manner, with the method of manufacturing a thermoelectric conversion device described in PTL 1, the conductive pastes are solid-phase sintered through the integrating step, and a plurality of conductors are formed. Then, with this manufacturing method, the conductors, the front surface wiring patterns, and the rear surface wiring patterns are electrically connected to each other, and the insulating base material, the front surface protection member, and the rear surface protection member are bonded together under pressure.
With this manufacturing method, the thermoplastic resin that constitutes the insulating base material flows into the voids when the above-mentioned integrating step is performed, which reduces the thickness of the insulating base material. Consequently, loads are efficiently applied from the pressing machine to the conductive pastes. Therefore, with this manufacturing method, the conductive pastes can be solid-phase sintered to form conductors, and the conductors, the front surface wiring patterns, and the rear surface wiring patterns can be electrically connected to each other.